


Trapped in a Nightmare

by LaMorelleNoire



Series: Bloodstained Pages [1]
Category: Dead by Daylight (Video Game), Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Angst and Feels, Dead by Daylight au, Gen, Killers are Trapper-Huntress, Multiple Deaths, Stu the Spider God, hookings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-17
Updated: 2018-03-08
Packaged: 2019-01-18 13:22:02
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12388914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaMorelleNoire/pseuds/LaMorelleNoire
Summary: The intent was to go to a haunted house for Halloween, but little did the boys at Achievement Hunter know that they'd be plucked from this reality to a limbo controlled by the Entity





	1. Chapter 1

October 30, 2016

_It started off as a dare. We didn’t expect to be chosen._

“Hey guys! Did you see this?” Geoff holds up a flyer for a haunted house. The place is out in the middle of a forest, some saying it’s haunted. Cliché Halloween shit. “They say it’s actually haunted.”

“Oooo haunted house! Geoff you’ll be scared shitless!” Michael laughs and takes the flyer, looking it over. “Seems cool… I’d take Lindsay but I don’t think that’s a good idea as she’s pregnant and all.” He shakes his head. “Don’t want the adrenaline or fear endangering the baby.”

“Oooooh yeah, that wouldn’t be good.” Ryan shakes his head from his place behind his desk, Diet Coke in hand. “Don’t risk that.”

“Why don’t we all go together?” Jeremy asks. “No wives, just us six guys hanging out?” He takes a drink from his beer, headphones around his neck.

“Does Meg count?” Gavin speaks up, the only one of the six who remains unmarried. “I mean… she’s pretty cool and I think she’d really like it.”

Michael snorts. “You just want her to hold you when you get scared.” He laughs. “Am I not good enough for you?”

“You wouldn’t do anything to help me if I’m scared!” Gavin retorts. “So no, you’re not good enough.”

“Ouch…” Michael puts a hand to his chest, looking offended. “That hurt, boi.”

“That was savage.” Jeremy adds.

“ _Any_ way, are we going to the haunted house? I like Lil J’s idea… and no, don’t bring Meg.” Geoff interrupts the Lad fight.

“Awwww…” Gavin pouts, but they know she’ll probably come anyway.

“I dunno… I’m not one for horror.” Jack shakes his head. “I might sit this one out.”

“Come on, Jack! Don’t be a pussy! I dare you to go.” Geoff says, knowing it sounds childish.

“Dare me? What are we, ten?” Jack laughs. “But I can’t say no to that. Alright, I’ll go…”

“Hap hap!” Jeremy cheers. “Ryan? You free?” He asks his Battle Buddy.

Ryan scratches the back of his neck. “I mean I have to get the kids home, but if it’s later that night, yeah it’ll work. The missus should be home by then anyway.” He nods.

“Alright… so that makes all of us!” Jeremy nods. “What time are we meeting?”

Michael laughs at Jeremy’s enthusiasm. “You’re so fucking excited for this. It’s fucking hilarious.” He shakes his head, a smile on his face.

Jeremy shrugs. “It’ll be fun… also I’m excited to see the reactions to people when they hear Gavin squawk in fear.” He snickers.

“They’ll think a bird got loose.” Jack laughs, and Ryan joins in, then Geoff. Soon they’re all cackling at Gavin.

“Bloody pricks,” Gavin humphs, crossing his arms. That infamous squawk is pulled from him as Michael throws something at him. “Wot the hell?”

Michael laughs more. “It’s just so fucking funny!”

Geoff shakes his head, then gets into dad mode. “Alright boys, let’s meet up at 8 tomorrow night.” He says, the other five nodding, then they turn to their computers and get to work, the screens showing four figures around a campfire, watched by a killer covered in blood…

_And so we went, Gavin of course bringing Meg. We met up at the address and then we saw the sign for the place… the name was familiar. Called the Macmillian Estate, and the place seemed to be a foundry back in the day. We didn’t catch on, not at first._

_Not until it was too late._

 

October 31, 2016

_We entered the forest and then everything went dark, a cold feeling running down my spine. Then what felt like claws closed around me and picked me up._

_Next thing I know, I wake up in a dark forest shrouded in a haunting mist, naught but the others and a campfire in front of me._

_The scene had a sense of déjà vu that I was afraid to remember. Unfortunately, I wasn’t the only one that felt it._

Ryan groans as he sits up, putting a hand to his head. It feels a little fuzzy, as if he had taken a nap and didn’t wake up quite right. He shakes his head to clear it, then looks around. He feels his mouth go dry.

“Fuck…” He says, knowing the setting all too well… After all, how many time has he seen the menu screen for Dead by Daylight? How many times has he jokingly clicked on _Kill Your Friends_ from this screen during a stream? How many times has he seen this campfire, these trees, that fog?

He shakily stands, and goes over, starting to rouse the others. “Geoff… Geoff please get up!” He says, a little worried as Geoff doesn’t immediately stir. Will he be alone in this? After a moment, however, his fears are relieved as Geoff blinks awake.

“Ryan? What happened?” He asks, sitting up as well and looking aroung. “This place… why does it look vaguely familiar?”

“We just played the game yesterday… This is the menu for Dead by Daylight,” Ryan says, swallowing hard. “I don’t know how, but it’s almost like we got trapped in the game.”

“Bullshit. That doesn’t happen. Stop being stupid!” Geoff protests, standing and starting to pace. “We were going to the haunted house… Shit what was the name of the place…” He’s visibly shaking as he sees the fog and the campfire, as well as sensing the invisible and malicious presence around them.

“The Macmillan Estate… the location of the maps for the Trapper.” Ryan sats. “It seems… it seems that somewhere between there we were plucked out of our world and into this one.”

“That’s fucking bullshit! That doesn’t happen!” Geoff repeats, but this time it’s more out of fear than anything else. He knows what they do in the game… He doesn’t know if he can take it if the same happens to them.

“What doesn’t happen?” Jack groans as he wakes up, Geoff’s yelling having roused him. Not long after Michael and Jeremy stir. Gavin and Meg remain unconsicous for the time being.

“Where are we?” Jeremy asks, rubbing his head and looking around.

“What happened?” Michael reaches up for his glasses, but when he doesn’t feel them he pats the ground. He finds them unscathed after a bit and puts them on. “Whoa… where are we?” He parrots Jeremy.

“Ryan says we’re fucking trapped in Dead by Daylight.” Geoff replies vehemently. “It’s fucking bullshit.”

Jeremy’s mouth goes dry. He had played the game a lot before he kind of fell out of it. But he’s seen the menu screen enough to recognize it. “I think… I think Ryan’s right. This is the menu screen of the game…” He shudders as that malicious presence washes over him. “Everything from the fog to the trees to the damn campfire.” He looks at it, eternally burning.

“I’m telling you it’s bullshit!” Geoff protests once more. “There’s no way!”

“Do you really not recognize it from all the videos we’ve made?” Jeremy says, his voice shaking in fear. “We… are we going to have to “play” the game?” He asks.

“If we do Gavin and Geoff are fucked.” Michael replies, sitting cross-legged on the ground with his arms crossed.

“Thanks for your confidence… you seem fairly calm about this.” Geoff snaps.

“I’m fucking terrified. I’m in a place where I’ll most likely die and my fucking last words to Lindsay are “Try not to miss me”. Fucking conceited asshole.” He grumbles. “Leave her alone while she’s pregnant. She’ll have to take care of the baby by herself. Fucking fuck of an asshole dad I am.” He shakes his head, closing in on himself a little more.

“Hey… You don’t know that.” Jack shakes his head. “There could be a way out… Maybe if we escape the match we’ll be freed.” He suggests. He finds it pretty incredible, and his heart aches at the strong possibility of leaving Caiti behind. But he can do this… for her. If they’re pulled into playing the game, he’ll do his damnedest to survive.

A silence falls over the five awake as they all think about their families, about their last words to them. Jack and Ryan had left the house with a “Love you!”, while Geoff had merely announced he was going to a haunted house. Jeremy had gone with a kiss to on his wife’s cheek and a quick “I love you my little lovebug.” But none of them wanted those to be their last words. There’s also the stirrings of a slight jealousy, as well as relief, that, while Gavin has Meg with him for comfort, their wives are all safe. Their families are out of this hell that they’ve been pulled into…

The silence is broken by a soft groan from Gavin as he finally rouses. He stretches and rubs his eyes, before he sits up. The first thing he notes is the smell of the campfire, then the leaves beneath him. After that he looks around for the source of that malicious presence, but it eminates from everywhere. His hand shifts back and touches Meg, causing him to let out a yelp of fear before he calms, going to her and shaking her gently. “Meg? Meg you okay?” He asks. The other five exchange looks. Gavin hadn’t even noticed them… then again he’s most likely a little groggy.

“G-Gavin?” Meg says as she wakes up, sitting up with his help and rubbing her head. “Shit… what happened? Where are we?” She looks around at the unfamiliar forest.

“We’re in Dead by Daylight.” Ryan says, at this point having sat down on one of the logs by the fire. “Geoff’s not really believing it… but it’s pretty obvious.” He shrugs.

“Dead by… what?” Meg gets up and helps Gavin stand, looking around. It certainly looks very familiar. “Shit… shit shit shit shit shit shit!” She approaches the campfire, shaking a little. “Fuck! There’s no way we could be… but there’s nowhere else we could be.”

Gavin runs his hands through his hair. “If we’re in here… do we have to play?” He asks. He knows he’s better as the killer than as the survivor. His mouth goes dry as he gets the sinking feeling in his gut that comes with knowing he’s not making it out alive.

“I think so…” Jeremy says, moving to sit beside Ryan, eyes on the fire. “I read the Lore of this place… I think that presence, the malicious one…” He raises an eyebrow as Ryan and Meg exchange a snicker, accompanied by “ _SortaMalicious_ ”, “anyway, I think it’s the Entity.”

“The fuck is the Entity?” Michael asks, the name vaguely familiar.

“Stu. The spider god.” Ryan explains. “The thing that stabs you on the hook and takes you into the sky.”

“Wait… _That_ fucking exists?” Michael says incredulously.

“It’s probably the reason we’re here…” Jeremy swallows hard. “In the bios for the survivors and the killers… it mentioned that they had been “plucked by the Entity”. That’s probably why we’re here… It picked us, for whatever reason.”

“So we get to die to enterain the fucking spider god. Fucking great.” Michael huffs.

“Some of us might survive. And if the Killer plays like Geoff, we’ll definitely make it!” Gavin says, trying to lighten the mood.

“Hey! Fuck you!” Geoff snaps, sitting on the log to Ryan’s right. “But it’s something to hope for. I can’t imagine being hooked is fucking pleasant.” He shakes his head.

“I doubt it… and they can’t be clean.” Jack adds. “If we’re injured and survive, we could easily get infected, then we have a whole different issue.”

“So we die no matter what.” Meg says in a soft voice.

Before any of the guys can continue, something shifts in the air. As one, those sitting stand and turn towards the woods as they feel a calling, a summons. They walk into the trees and the fog shrouds them.

The game has begun.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our poor victims start playing Dead by Daylight for real.

Entry 1 After Awaking

_We were called into the “arena” by the Entity… it felt like something pulling us. We couldn’t fight it. We never even thought about it. Even later on, we never had the idea to fight the Entity. We knew that would be a losing battle. So that first time we got up and walked into the woods. Everything went dark, and the match began._

“Gavin boi?”

“Micoo!”

“Jack! Oh thank God!”

“Hey Lil J!”

“Ryan, is that you?”

“Shit Meg! You scared me!”

“Hello? Anyone? God dammit of course I start alone!”

It seems the Entity had some mercy on the survivors as three pairs started together. Only Geoff started with no one around him, and of course he’s not happy about that.

Upon “spawning”, he immediately crouches in the tall grass, it obscuring him for a moment as he gathers his bearings. “Alright Ramsey, you can do this… It’s just like the game… find the gennys and you can get out.” He mutters to himself, eyes scanning upwards to find the flickering lights of any generators. Upon finding one he starts sneaking that way, relieved he hasn’t heard a heartbeat yet.

It doesn’t take long for him to find one, but when he does he starts to tinker with it. He doesn’t get far before he has to quickly find a hiding place as that Heartbeat starts. “Oh god oh man oh god oh man,” he says as he moves, the nearest hiding place being down that set of stairs… shit. But it could be the best place to hide. He hates it, but he walks down those steps, a red light eminating from somewhere as he gets to the bottom of the steps.

The hooks are even worse in real life, or whatever this is, and Geoff starts to tremble as he enters a locker, trying not to think about it. That Heartbeat is in his ears, but he can’t see or sense anything. Seems like he’s safe… for now.

††††††

“Micoo do you see a genny?”

“Not yet Gav.”

The pair of friends had thankfully started together, and they’re on the hunt for generators. With eyes scanning through the dark and ears peaked for any sounds to indicate the Killer is near, they creep through the trees and wooden walls of the map. After a few moments, they freeze as they hear the thumping on the edge of their hearing. The Heartbeat.

“Shit! We have to hide.” Michael says, turning and hiding in a nearby locker.

“Micoo!” Gavin whines as his friend hides, but his somewhat playful nature dissipates as that heartbeat gets louder. He sneaks into some tall grass and as he glimpses the killer, recognizing the Trapper, and he holds his breath as it approaches, getting as far into the grass as he can. The Heartbeat gets louder and louder, and soon he can hear nothing else.

Michael watches from the slats of the locker as the heartbeat gets louder. It’s certainly much harder to be a survivor in first person as opposed to third… but he has this awareness to things around him. He knows Gavin is hiding in the grass to the left of the locker, as if he could see him. He knows the Trapper is coming from their right, getting closer and closer… hopefully passing by. The Heartbeat is filling his head, and he sucks in his breath as the Killer is a mere three feet away… then there’s a loud _pop_ and the Killer immediately turns and heads towards the sound, the Heartbeat fading with it.

††††††

“Alright Meg… We can do this.” Ryan looks around, and cheers softly at their good fortune. “Here we go!” He kneels beside it and his hands go into autopilot. He has an inherent knowledge about what to do to fix the generator, the soft tinkering seeming like loud clangs in the tense quiet.

“Okay…” Meg gets on the other side of the genny and starts to work, a little surprised at the work of her hands. “Interesting… seems like we know what to do. I wonder if skill checks exist?” She comments.

“I don’t know… I wouldn’t think so. There’s no space bar to hit.” Ryan shakes his head. He and Meg have played the game many times before together, and with a much more difficult Killer than the one currently stalking them. Because of that, they both feel an inherent trust that they know what to do and how to work together.

“Whoops!” Ryan says as he missed the “skill check”, not expecting the soft red glow from a node, not expecting to need to hit it. The generator pops in a shower of sparks and he dives away from it.

“God dammit Ryan!” Meg says as she runs from the generator as well, going to a nearby patch of grass around the corner of a wall. Ryan is in much the same position, but further to the left of the generator than her.

“So… it seems there are the equivalent to skill checks… like a light pops up.” He explains.

“Interesting… I wish we could te-” Meg cuts herself short as she hears the Heartbeat thrumming in her ears and she crouches in the grass as best as she can. She listens, hears the sound of the generator being broken, then the sound of a trap being laid. So they’re facing the Trapper.

Ryan, meanwhile, is figuratively shitting himself as he watches the Killer approach the generator, kick it until sparks fly out, then lay a trap in grass beside it. He’s certain he’ll be seen… but then the Killer leaves the way it came. Ryan carfully walks over to the trap and presses the trigger, the bear trap snapping shut. “That was way too close.”

“Yeah…” Meg swallows, her mouth dry. “As I was saying, I wish we could tell the others.” She finishes her earlier comment.

Ryan nods solemnly. “Yeah… would make things easier… come on. Let’s try to finish this genny.” He crouches beside it and resumes working, eyes peeled for that check, determined to not make the same mistake twice. Not when there’s so much at stake.

††††††

“How’re you doing Jeremy?” Jack asks, those soft tinkering noises around him and Jeremy as they tag-team a generator, much like Ryan and Meg had been doing.

“Not bad at all! And fucking hell am I glad I picked up on those skill checks!” Jeremy says happily. He feels rather proud about moment, when he picked up that the glowing node had to be hit. Really he found that out by accident, so he properly tested it the next time it happened.

“You certainly saved our asses.” Jack nods and as the sound of the generator picks up he gives a relieved laugh. “Almost there! Waheyy!” He whoops as the light pops on above them. One down, five to go. He then wonders how he knew that. “Hey… how many generators do we have to fix?” He asks Jeremy, the pair creeping off together, the Heartbeat not yet in their ears.

“Five more.” Jeremy says with conviction. “Which seems odd as there’s seven of us…” he muses, then jolts. “Wait… I know that. How do I know that?” He frowns, looking to Jack for help.

“Must be part of the world I guess. Like the skill checks are altered, maybe that’s the substitute for having the number of generators and team status in the corner.” Jack shrugs, hurrying a little as he hears the soft thrum of the Heartbeat. “Fuck that’s unsettling.”

“Yeah… I’m just glad no one’s been hurt yet.” Jeremy says, the sound soon fading. “Hey… I wonder if the Killer can hear our voices. Because when you play online you’re silent save when you’re fixing or whimpering.” He comments. “That’s barring the visible noises.” He considers testing that if someone gets into trouble.

“Oh that would be interesting… although I hope no one has to test that theory.” Jack shakes his head. “Come on, let’s head to the next generator.” He nods, before the pair sneaks off into the woods again.

_The game started off easy enough, each of us getting the hang of things, easily avoiding the Killer. Little did we know how bad it was going to get._


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Despite their confident beginning, their luck can't last forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry it's taken me forever to update! I've been busy with classes and I hit major writer's block.
> 
> This chapter is definitely gory. Also I feel kinda bad for what I did to my favorite Hunters in this chapter. Oopsies.
> 
> Enjoy!

Entry 1 After Awakening: Continued

_The game started off easy enough, each of us getting the hang of things, easily avoiding the Killer. Little did we know how bad it was going to get._

_There were three pairs of survivors plus Geoff, so you’d think that getting the generators would be easy, right? Well, it’s a lot more difficult in real life than in the game, when the fear is so very real, and the threat of pain haunts you. At the beginning we didn’t know the pain, but in games after… it’s the most agonizing thing I’ve ever felt._

“Shit!” Jack curses as the generator pops, him just missing that skill check. “That’s the third one!”

“It’s fine, but we need to go.” Jeremy says, slinking away.

They now needed four generators, one having been started in the distance, allowing the Trapper’s attention to be diverted to yet another fuck up on the generator. Then again, the sound of popped generators occurred frequently. Jack guessed it’s from wherever Gavin is.

“Right.” Jack slips off into the tall grass as that Heartbeat started, Jeremy getting to a locker just in time.

Jeremy swallows hard as he senses the Killer, mere feet from him. Shit. Did he get in in time? Or was he seen? He could try to burst out and stun the Killer like he’s hoped to do in game, but this isn’t a game anymore. His fear is rooting him in place as that horrible wooden mask looks around, before taking a step towards the lockers, the Heartbeat filling his ears.

“Hey dumbass!” Jack yells over, but doesn’t move. No reaction from the Killer… alright, seems like they can’t hear their voices. Excellent. “HEY!” Jack yells again, but this time he stands and starts sprinting away, the Killer immediately moving from the lockers, away from Jeremy.

“ _Goddammit Jack no!_ ” Jeremy curses, but he doesn’t move. He had always expected to be brave in something like this, but he can’t move. Not until the Killer is far enough away that Jeremy can safely leave the locker. “Fucking coward…” He growls at himself, before going towards he can see Jack.

Jack is sprinting with all his strength, but he’s never been much of a runner, always having been “the fat one” of the group. He stumbles on some wood, and that’s all the Killer needs.

There’s the flash of moonlight on the machete, then Jack feels a flash of pain and hot blood running down his back. Shit. This is bad. He stumbles again and falls, and that’s all that’s needed. The extra slash to his back must just be for shits and giggles, because he knows his spine is probably already on show.

“ _Jack!_ ” Jeremy screams, seeing the man be picked up. He should be wiggling… but it doesn’t look like he’s moving much? Why isn’t h- oh. Jeremy covers his mouth and has to seriously stopping himself from vomiting as the moonlight causes Jack’s spine to glint white. Blood pours from him, but he’s still faintly wiggling. After all, how can the Entity have fun playing with them if they’ll just die from blood loss?

††††††

“ _Micoo_!” Gavin exclaims and points to where he can see a red outline of someone being carried, much like in the game. “Jack’s been downed!” He starts off that way.

Michael grabs his arm. “What the fuck are you doing? You can’t just go in like in the game! You’ll die!”

“If we don’t do anything then Jack will die!” Gavin says, but there’s a tremor in his voice. He’s terrified but he’s not going to just let his friend die. Or sacrificed. Or whatever the hell would happen here.

“Dammit Gavin!” Michael shakes his head, but let go of the Brit’s arm and starts moving with him towards the outlined Jack. He’s glad he has such a loyal friend like Gavin, but that loyalty will be the death of him… literally in this case. Hopefully they’ll make it in time.

Their progress is slow, but they’re making their way over to Jack, sticking to different patches of grass. Then there’s that black hole, and Jack’s outline, his aura, is elevated.

He’s been hooked.

††††††

Jack hangs on the hook, blood pouring from his back and his shoulder isn’t much better. At least the killers know to hook the fleshy part of the shoulder, so the hook doesn’t scrape bone. He feels light-headed, so very light-headed, but he doesn’t feel cold like he would expect to if he were dying. Seems the Entity doesn’t want his life to end quite yet.

“D… dammit…” he groans, forcing his eyes open to look around, as well as use that sixth sense. Seems like no one is too close… wait… Is that…?

Arms lift him from under his armpits and off the hook with a squelching noise. “Come on, I need to patch you up.” Geoff grabs Jack’s arm and tugs him away from the hook, the larger man stumbling a little, but his friend keeps him on his feet. He tugs Jack behind some boards and then starts to heal him, not needing any equipment as the “magic” of this place allows him to heal Jack… if it can be called that. Seems too evil of a place for a word that’s usually coupled with the whimsical.

“Thanks… I’m guessing… it’s pretty bad?” Jack pants, feeling the pain fade, and the blood loss isn’t as intense. He also feels a bit rejuvenated.

“Your spine was on show… fucking nasty. But I’ve seen some shit in the military, so I wasn’t going to like, vomit or anything.” Geoff shakes his head. “There. Now come on.” He finishes fixing Jack up and starts to sneak away from the puddle of blood that slowly fades into nothing.

††††††

“He’s okay!” Michael cries out in relief. “Dunno who, but someone got Jack off and then patched him up!”

Gavin snickers. “ _Got Jack off_.”

Michael gives Gavin a long look before he chuckles as well. “Yeah, I guess that’s pretty funny. Hey when d-” He cuts himself off as he hears that Heartbeat. Shit.

“There’s nowhere to hide!” Gavin whispers in distress, not finding any lockers, and the best places were a few patches of grass.

“Fuck fuck fuck fucking shit!” Michael looks around, staying as low as he can as that Heartbeat gets louder. He looks to the left and his heart jumps to his mouth as he sees the Trapper coming straight towards them, surely.

“ _Hey fucker!_ ” Ryan calls from behind the Trapper, and picks up a rock, throwing it at the Killer. It bounces off its head, and it doesn’t seem phased.

“Ryan what are you doing?!” Meg says, hiding in the grass by where Ryan is standing.

“ _Meg?!_ ” Gavin calls from his spot. He quickly deduced that the Killer cannot hear their voices.

“Gavin! Oh thank God!” She says in relief.

“Ryan he’s gonna kill you!” Michael breaks the reunion between the couple as Ryan sprints forward in front of the Trapper, getting a good distance ahead, before he turns on heel and shines a flashlight in its face.

“Blind! Be blinded I say!” Ryan mimics his usual lines in the game, and, miraculously, it works. The Trapper is stunned and Ryan bolts away, Michael and Gavin going over to Meg.

“Turney!” Gavin hugs his girlfriend, relieved she’s okay.

“Hey Gav.” She grins and adjusts her glasses. “Alright… we need to come up with a rescue plan for when Ryan gets caught.”

“Since he will… that dumbass… Wait, did you and Ryan start together?” Michael asks.

“Yeah, what about you two?” She looks between Gavin and Michael and the bois nod.

“Yeah boi!” Gavin confirms, then frowns. “Did anyone else though?”

“Jack could have started alone,” Michael points out, “but now I’m worried about Lil J and Geoff as well. We should try and find the others.”

“A bigger party will just make it easier for the Trapper to catch us, though.” Meg chews on her lip, thinking. “So we should stick together, just not too many of us.”

Michael opens his mouth to reply when all three get that feeling: Someone’s been trapped.

††††††

“AAAAAAAAAAARGH!” Jeremy screams in pain as the sharp teeth of the bear trap snap around his leg, and he swears under the snap of the trap he heard a snap of his bone.

“Goddammit!” He hisses as he starts to struggle to get the trap open, but his hands slip on the blood that’s already coating the jaws of the trap. He’s mentally cursing himself too. He never even thought about checking the patches of grass by generators for traps.

After he had started towards where Jack was, he had been waylaid by the Trapper, the thing hanging out by him, causing him to run. Luckily that gave whoever time to get Jack off the hook then heal him.

That Heartbeat is soon pulsing in his ears and he fights the trap even more, but nothing he does helps. His blood is starting to congeal and that causes it to become just sticky enough that his escape efforts are in vain. He’s never felt more afraid than he does right then, the Heartbeat deafening in his ears.

As he’s picked up the trap falls open, his blood just a new coat of paint on it. He suddenly fears about getting a disease from the blood, but he doesn’t think he’ll live long enough that that’ll be an issue. Not that it matters here, in this world.

“Let me go!” Jeremy protests as he’s carried, struggling against the grip of the Killer carrying him.

“BLIND!” The voice of Ryan comes from behind Jeremy, and his mouth goes dry.

“Fuck! Ryan RUN!”

“Not without my Battle Buddy!” Ryan shines the light at the Trapper’s face, but it moves just enough so it isn’t blinded. “Dammit work!” He grumbles, but just as he gets it right in its eyes the light flickers and dies. Ryan stares at the flashlight in his hand for a moment in shock, then he scrambles away.

“ _Fuck!_ ” The curse is full of agony as the Trapper brings its blade down across Ryan’s retreating back, opening a large wound, but it’s not as deep as what happened to Jack. He stumbles, but keeps running, before he slows down as the Heartbeat fades. He leans against a wall, light headed from the running and blood loss. “F-fuck…” He sinks to his knees as he looks where he came from, a gong-like noise sounding as Jeremy is hooked, and the Aura of him writhing in pain on the hook sends a chill down his spine.

He had abandoned Jeremy.

††††††

Really it couldn’t be worse for Lil J right now. At least the pain from the hook piercing through his shoulder distracted him from the pain in his probably broken leg and being suspended keeps the weight off it. Silver linings, he supposes. He doesn’t struggle. He knows better than to try to get himself off the hook. Every other mechanic from the game has seemed to transfer to this world, so he knows struggling equals faster time to getting spider’d, and then it’s no more Jeremy Dooley.

He looks around, seeing the yellow Auras of the others. Ryan looks like he’s about to pass out, on his knees and probably bleeding pretty bad if his cry of pain was anything to go off of. He could see the faraway group of Michael, Gavin, and Meg off in the distance, and that sixth sense told him that Jack and Geoff are somewhere behind him.

But none of them are close.

He curses to himself and looks up at the hook. What’s the harm in trying? He reaches up with a groan of pain and his blood-slick hands grip the hook. He can do this.

“One… two… three!” He grips it and pulls himself up, but his hands slip and him falling jars his shoulder, pulling a strangled noise of agony from him. “Shit!” He takes a moment before he tries to escape again, almost got it…

“YES!” He kicks himself off and lands on his feet, but his leg buckles beneath him and he falls, before he gets up and is limp-sprinting away, leaving behind a long trail of blood. However, that Heartbeat is soon thrumming in his ears, and he knows that his escape won’t last.

††††††

“He got off!” Geoff cheers, having been working his way towards Jeremy. He and Jack have stuck with each other, and together they watched those attempts, then how he kicked off. The Aura had vanished the moment his feet had hit the ground.

“Yeah… but he’s still got a bad leg. I won’t be surprised if he’s caught again soon,” Jack confesses.

“Well, there’s no need to be so fucking pessimistic.” Geoff huffs, but no sooner than he had said them they saw Jeremy’s Aura again: picked up and being carried once more. “Fuck, I fucking jinxed it.”

Jack watches where he’s hooked and bites his lip. “He’s closer to us now. Come on.” He starts sneaking that way.

Geoff gives a noise of frustration before he follows Jack, not liking the sound of the Heartbeat that picks up the closer they get to Jeremy. He hopes they can make it to him in time.

††††††

Jeremy lets out another cry as he’s hooked, and his earlier escape attempt cost him precious time. No sooner had the hook slipped back into that hole on his shoulder with a squelching noise when those leglike claws appear and he’s forced to struggle for his life. His hands grasp the end of the main claw, it close to his throat but he knows that at the end it’ll move down and pierce his abdomen. “Fuck. You. Spider!” Jeremy says through grit teeth. He’s aware of the Trapper moving away from him, looking for new targets, and then the approaching Auras of Jack and Geoff from the opposite direction. “GUYS HELP!” He shouts, knowing that the Trapper cannot hear him.

Geoff quickly ducks behind a tree as he hears the shout from Jeremy, but the Heartbeat is fading, meaning the Trapper is on the move. He comes out of hiding and shares a worried glace with Jack. They can see Jeremy struggling on the hook. They know they’re running out of time.

“Please hurry!” he begs as he feels his grip on the claw slipping. Just a matter of time before it’s free.

“Almost there!” Jack calls over. He moves faster now, sprinting. He makes it to Jeremy and puts his arms around the smaller man to lift him off…

And gets a face full of blood as the claws stab into Jeremy as he screams in agony, his time run out.

Jack flinches back and watches the claws close around his friend’s corpse, eyes wide with terror. “JEREMY!”

“ _Jeremy no_!” Geoff watches the sacrifice with horror, then that Heartbeat returns. “Shit shit shit fuck shit Jack we need to go!” He tugs on Jack’s arm, who jolts then nods.

“Alright.” His voice is strained, on the verge of tears. Died in his arms, and if he wasn’t so fucking scared he’d probably break down. The two turn from the broken hook and sneak away, hearts heavy with the loss of their friend.

††††††

“ _Shit Jeremy!_ ” Ryan groans as he gets that sense, not to mention the flash across the sky made it pretty clear that Stu just claimed his first victim. He continues to move, knowing he should rest but staying in one place draws the Trapper to him. His head is swimming and his back is heavy and wet with blood.

_Just need to find the others, then I’ll be alright,_ he thinks to himself, using that to push himself on. “Come on…” He sneaks to the large house in the center of the map and enters, hoping to perhaps find a medkit.

It’s while he’s there that he hears that Heartbeat begin to thrum in his ears, and he finds a nearby locker to hide in. But he’s injured, and the Entity demands that he makes grunts of pain as he hides. He just hopes the Trapper doesn’t walk by him.

If only he was as lucky as he had hoped he was. Unfortunately, that Heartbeat grows louder, and he hearts those heavy footsteps. _Shit shit shit shit shit… At least this is what I probably deserve… I_ did _leave Jeremy alone to his death._

The Trapper stops right in front of the locker and then opens it, grabbing Ryan over his mouth to stop the screams, before throwing him over its shoulder. Ryan wiggles, but he’s already weakened by how much he’s bled, and his heart drops as he realizes the others are nowhere near him.

Then again, he did this to himself, didn’t he? He abandoned Meg, Gavin, and Michael. Then he abandoned Jeremy. He’s always left the group, but this time it may have cost him his life.

_Fuck no! No no no no no no!_ He mentally pleads as the Trapper makes that turn and descends into the basement, the Toy Chest, as Jeremy called it. His eyes water a bit as he considers the fact that it’s his fault that Jeremy is dead. He abandoned him.

A cry of agony is torn from his lips as that hook pierces through his shoulder. He grips the end as his body instinctively curls in on itself. The Trapper places a trap at his feet before it turns and leaves.

Ryan knows they won’t save him. He knows they won’t dare come down here. So he takes a deep breath and grips the hook, lifting himself and trying to angle his body to get off the hook. His grip slips and he falls back, a cry of pain following as his body jolts back down onto the hook. Those claws begin to form. He tries once more and fails. The claws are more solid.

_Once more, for Jeremy._ He grips the hook with all his strength and hauls himself up, the hook almost slipping out…

His hands slip on blood and he is sent back onto the hook, the tip ripping at his muscle. He grips his shoulder and doesn’t notice the claws until too late.

There is no struggle from James Ryan Haywood before the Entity claims its next victim.

_This game, or whatever the hell it was, it’s nothing I would wish onto my worst enemy. We lost two people back to back, and then, we didn’t know what would happen. Death was death, to us. We didn’t know how this world worked. We’ve learned by now, we’ve adapted. We cope with the pain in our own ways. But the things you never get rid of is the perpetual fear and the guilt of leaving someone to their fate, either too much of a coward to save them, or you’re injured, or too far… It doesn’t matter the reason. Every time someone is sacrificed, that guilt finds you, and little by little it starts to eat you alive._

 


End file.
